Page 104 of Last Girls Alive

“In town.”

“Look, Ms. Harlan. I don’t know if you realize how much trouble you are in. If I were you, I would strongly suggest cooperating with us.” Katie turned her gaze and stared at Candace. She looked defeated, hair wet and hanging in her face, and eyes looking at the floor. “I can help you, but you have to be honest with me.” Katie couldn’t help but see her twin sister lying in her grave covered with mud and it tamed her anger. Now she felt compassion for the woman.

“I used to go to a coffee place on the corner of Maple and Jensen Streets.”

Katie nodded. “I know it.”

“I would go there a lot. It was a place where I could be alone and think… and prepare for when I turned eighteen.”

“You met Ray there?”

“Yes. I saw him several times. He was cute in his own way… older… but I liked him. After a while, we would share a table and talk about things: my life, his life, and living in this town.”

“What did he do?”

“I’m not entirely sure. It had to do with business, accounting, I think. He always had files of reports and spreadsheets in his briefcase.”

“How long did you stay with him?”

“About three months.”

“Where did you stay?”

“We rented a motel with a kitchen by the week.”

“Why not his house?”

“He said it was too small and his roommate was always around. This way we could be alone.”

Katie took a few notes, but she was beginning to get an instinct of who “Ray” was and it wasn’t a good feeling. “What motel?”

“I don’t remember the name. It was over near where the railroad stores their cars and cargo. I do remember that it had a big red dot and it said ‘weekly rentals with kitchens’.”

“You say you left Ray after three months?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you go?”

“Um, I went to Los Angeles. I worked as a waitress and tried to get a modeling job.”

“During all this time when you’ve moved—did you see Ray again?”

There was a pause before she answered, “I thought I saw him in Sacramento, but I was mistaken. It made me think that he might have tracked me down and was following me.”

“You never spoke to Ray again?”

“No.”

The heater was turned to low in the patrol car and Katie started to feel better—her shivers had stopped. “Were you ever in contact with any of the girls from Elm Hill?”

“I spoke with all of them for a while at first, except…”

“Except who?”

“Tanis,” she said.

That revelation surprised Katie. “Why not Tanis? Wasn’t she your best friend?”